What Now?
by figurechan
Summary: Itachi commits suicide in his battle with Sasuke.Sasuke moves on to his next plan in order- restoring the Uchiha clan. And with what better blood than the Hyuuga(SasuHina), GaaTenNejiTen in later chapters READ AND REVIEW
1. chapter 1

The search for his brother was a long and hard one. He had been searching for years; his brother appeared to have disappeared from the earth after that incident when Sasuke was twelve. But everything was different now. He was ready. Even if Itachi has trained hard since that event, Sasuke should be able to defeat him. Defeat him and receive all his dreams. His chidori limit was now 14 times each day. He had learned to fight with a sword, and learned how to summon a sword in the middle of a fight so he wont have to carry it around all day. His speed was faster than it was when he had fought in the chuunin exam against Gaara of the desert. Orochimaru's cursed seal was now long gone- it disappeared the day the 5th hokage found a way to "cure" orochimaru of his immortality. His sharingan was much more advanced now and he had learned many techniques. When he became a jounin, Sasuke had asked Tsunade Sama for a special permission to leave for a personal quest before he started his duties of a jounin. Tsunade Sama, obviously knowing what this quest of his was, agreed immediately. She knew he'd go even if she didn't agree, anyway.

Sasuke had refused Naruto's offerings of helps, no matter how hard Naruto had truly wanted to help him do this. This was Sasuke's business, and Sasuke's business alone.

And now, He was in front of him. In front of Itachi. Pure hatred leaked out of him. And then he remembered what Naruto had told him many times before... to fight for someone they care about, not because of someone you hate. And Sasuke remembered what he was fighting for. He was fighting for his family.

"Long time no see... Nii-San" Sasuke said in a voice so cold he didn't recognize. The voice was even colder than the one he usually used.

"Well hello there, foolish little brother. I expect you've come after me once again, seeking your revenge?" Itachi turned around, grinning. Sasuke didn't know... he didn't know how good Itachi felt to being so close to someone from his family. Even if he had come in order to kill him. Itachi actually, like any normal human, missed his little brother.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, smirking. He summoned his sword and took a swing at his brother, which he dodged without a problem. But to where he dodged, Sasuke blew fire. Knowing Itachi to have probably seen that coming, he set a poisonous gas bomb. In his mouth he had a tiny little air pocket, which allowed him to breathe clean air instead of the poisonous one. but that, apparently, didn't work on Itachi either, as he saw a pair of red eyes in front of him. And suddenly, he was in hell. But he smiled.

"For gods sake, Itachi, I've thought that you'd have renewed your techniques once I've seen them..." Sasuke smirked. "I've seen you work through this one before. Have you been so easy to forget that I have my sharingan as well? I saw through your technique. At first I didn't quit understand how it works, and when I tried it- I failed. So I tried to kill my best friend and earn it. But then... I realized. All I had to do was a bit of thinking through it. and guess what, Itachi?"

Sasuke's smirk was becoming rather annoying to Itachi. So, he had figured that he needn't kill Naruto for his eye. Ah well.

Itachi withdrew his attack. It wouldn't help now, would it. Sasuke was stronger than he was, he knew this. He hadn't trained for the past 5 years, and was completely out of shape. 20 year old Sasuke was sure to beat him. And he didn't want to fight his little brother anymore.

20 years old, was he? Yes, Itachi was certain of it. He sent him a birthday present every year, after all. Sasuke had always thought it was one of his fan girls. God, so much time has passed... since he killed his family. All that seemed to matter back then was power. Power, and his little brother... how he loved him. And this was all for him. Sasuke was the only family member whom he cared about. It pained him that he had to fight him, to hurt him.

He didn't hate them- his family, that is. He was actually proud to have such a strong bloodline limit. It sure helped him a bit.

But he had killed his whole clan just for Sasuke.

So Sasuke would have a goal, an objective, to become stronger for.

So his foolish little brother won't be killed by someone else. Because Itachi knew that he wouldn't be able to stand that.

He would never kill his brother. He loved him way too much.

And all of the other clan members were way less important. He'd kill them all if that was what would make Sasuke more serious about his training, what would make Sasuke stronger.

And it did make Sasuke stronger. So Itachi was right. All of the mental torture Itachi had Sasuke go through turned out for the best, just like he had thought.

It took a great deal of sacrificing from Itachi, to bring the best out of Sasuke. It took him to sacrifice his entire family, it took him to sacrifice the smile on Sasuke's face. It took him to sacrifice being near Sasuke, having Sasuke look up to him.

And all those years, that he was away to Sasuke, he had thought about him. More than he thought about anything else, including power.

How Itachi wanted to go back to the days when Sasuke would come asking him for help in training, and Itachi would hit him in his forehead... he missed those days so much.

Then Itachi smiled. He hugged his brother, who punched him in the stomach. Itachi had mind control. He had learned it fighting a Yamanaka a long, long time ago. Using mind control, he made Sasuke pick the sword, which was on the ground, then, he moved Sasuke's hand- an attack on his own body. Sasuke had killed Itachi- or had Itachi committed suicide?

Sasuke couldn't make up his mind whether or not he had gotten his revenge, the many times he had looked back to the battle.

As he walked back towards Konoha village, Sasuke knew exactly what he wanted now.


	2. chapter 2

Sasuke went home to refresh first. Every one in the village thought that he must have a fancy house, most have them thought he still lived in the Uchiha Manor. But Sasuke couldn't stay in that place. He took his meals there from time to time, to trick his fans. But as a matter of fact, his house was not far from Naruto. He lived in the same shabby neighborhood. Of course, he always took a longer path almost exactly three times as long to trick everyone, even when he was late for something. He took a long shower first. Then he put his clothes in the laundry, switching to a black shirt and beige pants. Then he got packing. He was going to move to the Uchiha Manor tomorrow. He smiled. The Uchiha Manor... who will soon be full with more Uchiha's. He went to report to Tsunade Sama of his return. Of course, she would have known by now. But she might want to know of the events. So he hopped around Konoha's rooftops and reached the Hokage's office.

"I wish to speak to the Hokage." he told one of the guard. He was let in immediately. After all, he WAS Uchiha Sasuke.

"Sasuke." Tsunade stated.

"Hai." Sasuke answered.

There was a silence.

"How is your older brother doing?" she asked him.

"Quit bad, apparently. He committed suicide in the middle of our battle." Sasuke answered. Tsunade frowned.

"Are you sure about that?" Tsunade asked. Sasuke remembered the time they thought they had killed Zabuza. He had learned then to never trust someone to be dead unless you killed them yourself.

"Hai, Hokage Sama. I stayed with his body for two days after. He wasn't breathing at any time. I buried him." Sasuke replied. He was not so stupid.

"Good. Now that you have put that in your past, are you ready to become a Jounin, with full Jounin responsibilities? The Genin test is in a month from now, and I would rather like to attach you to a group... will you be interested in that?" Tsunade asked. It was good to have Sasuke as a Jounin for Konoha. And she wanted him to train as many young ninja's to be as strong as himself.

"Hai, Hokage-Sama. I have however one more task to do before I proceed on being a Jounin, which I plan on settling tomorrow. Is that alright with you, Hokage-Sama?" he asked. He snorted inside. He was going to do it whether princess Tsunade likes it or not and she knows it.

"Of course, Sasuke. I assume your task is restoring the Uchiha clan, am I mistaken?"

"No, you are not, Hokage Sama." He replied. 'duh.'

"You are excused to leave now." She said, and he set off. 'I wonder which lucky young lady he has in mind'.

After the little talk he had with the hokage, he decided not to waste time. It was night already. He moved all of his belongings to the Uchiha Manor and spent the rest of the night fixing things in a way it looked as if someone was living there. He went to sleep at around five in the morning. The next morning he woke up at 7 AM (Sasuke's a morning dude, what do you want?!) and washed himself. He combed his hair, brushed his teeth, and left his new home. He didn't want to be there if he didn't have to... not yet, anyway. In a day or two it would probably all work out.

He appeared in the gate of the Hyuuga Manor two hours later, with a bottle of wine in his hand.

"I wish to speak to Hyuuga Hiashi." he stated to the guards. They let him in. 'damn, I thought the security in the Hyuuga Manor would be higher... then again, I suppose that no one would have the guts to land an attack on so many Hyuuga's... if he did, he'd probably be dead.'

He entered the first building he saw. He asked around, until one Hyuuga was kind enough to escort him to Hiashi. Sasuke took a deep breathe, and stepped inside the room. He stood by the door.

"Hiashi Sama." He said, so that Hiashi would notice his presence.

"Uchiha Sasuke?" Hiashi asked. Sasuke nodded. "Please, do sit down."

Sasuke gave him the wine he had bought and sat down.

"What do you wish to speak about, Uchiha?"

"Itachi is dead." No time to waste, he was getting straight to the point. "and I want to restore my clan."

"That's all very nice and sweet." Hiashi said. He knew what that damn Uchiha boy wanted, and he saw no reason to give it to him.

"The Uchiha's originally come from the Hyuuga, I assume you know that, Hiashi Sama. The Hyuuga's are also the strongest bloodline in Konoha, it is no surprise I want to restore my clan with an Hyuuga. Please, Hiashi Sama, I am begging you, and this is not something I tend to do every other day."

"Why should I give you what you want? The Uchiha's used to be the Hyuuga's rival clan. Right now the Hyuuga's are the strongest ninja's in Konoha- why should we do you a favor that could risk that title?"

"What good is being the strongest when there's hardly competition? If there would be someone to push you to train harder in order to be the best, the Hyuuga's will be undefeatable!" Sasuke hoped this would work. But the look on Hiashi's face told him he had the wrong choice of words.

"Are you saying that us Hyuuga's don't train hard enough? Are you even daring to HINT that we're only strongest because we have no competition? Leave my house, damn Uchiha, before I kill you!" Hiashi was furious. Sasuke cursed under his breath. There goes his plan. No other family will do and right now it seemed impossible to convince Hiashi. He left the Manor. He will have to go ask the Hokage for a few more days.

Every day, at 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon, the lonely Uchiha came to see Hiashi, hoping to convince him. Each day he brought a bottle of selected and expensive wine with him, and Sasuke noted with time that the Hyuuga's started looking a bit cranky to him. Hangover, perhaps? But Hiashi wouldn't budge, and princess Tsunade was starting to get upset with him. He had to settle this soon. He decided to take Neji to a talk. He wasn't particularly fond of him, but he was the only Hyuuga with senses that Sasuke knew of.

"Neji, I assume you heard of my request from your uncle..."

"What do you take me for, stupid? Of course I've heard. You're the joke of the Hyuuga Manor right now."

"How nice. I don't suppose you've got any tips for me, have you?"

"Why should I give you tips?" Neji asked.

"Because it means there's a possibility of a family that is stronger than the Hyuuga. If that happens, the Hyuuga might tune down a bit. Chill on the attitude. You know. It might even mean that not only the people from the branch family will match to the power of the head family."

Neji thought of that.

"You know what, Sasuke? I'll make you a deal. I'll give you tips on how to get Hiashi to agree. I'll even try to vaguely push from the inside. It's sure to work. But in return... I want you to make sure the head family is destroyed when the Uchiha get strong enough." Neji said.

Sasuke thought about that. Destroying the head family... that's certainly something he'd enjoy doing. But it might ruin the Uchiha title after they already worked hard to get it back... no, he can't...

Then again... he thought about what Neji had said. "I want you to make sure.". he didn't say the Uchiha's have to do it. he didn't even say Sasuke have to do it. all he said was that Sasuke had to make sure. That should be easy enough. Neji wouldn't tell his family he was helping Sasuke, because that would mean he was turning traitor. Neji would be dead in a matter of seconds.

"I accept." Came the reply.

"Fine. Tell him you'll take the most useless Hyuuga he's got, anyone will do. Tell him that as long it's a Hyuuga it's alright with you, beside it will take a useless person off his back." Neji said. "that should work on him. And one more thing, Sasuke... I've stopped believing in fate a long, long time ago. But I can tell you this: it is not the fate of the Hyuuga to be defeated. They'll stay forever. So good luck destroying us; it's not going to work." And with that Neji walked away.

Sasuke went to the Uchiha Manor. How he hated it. He entered and went to fix himself something to eat. He made himself instant ramen. Naruto gave him a ton of them his previous birthday and he couldn't seem to eat them all. He was halfway through the almost uneatable gooey ramen (oh how he hated ramen), when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." he said. Someone that looked like a fan girl came in. "Go out." He said. The fan girl, surprisingly enough, went out. Sasuke was surprised, the fan girls were usually noisy and didn't give up until they had gotten at least a hug from him. They never did get a hug and they never did give up. Sasuke sighed. 'Too bad... even a fan girl would do as an excuse to stop eating ramen right now...'. Another knock.

"Come in." he said. Naruto came in. Damn it, those fan girls could at least put a little effort if they're going to use henge to get close to him. The entire white collar of Naruto's orange suit was missing, and it also missed the circle on his sleeve.

"Are you the same fan girl as before or a different one?" he asked. The girl popped back to her normal state. She was the same one.

"I don't think of myself as a fan girl. I have nothing in common with those girls who bother you all the time, Sasuke-kun. All I wish is to congratulate you on your defeat of your brother." She said.

"I didn't defeat him. He committed suicide. Please leave now." He said. She turned to leave and walked towards the door.

"I know you wish to restore your clan, Sasuke-Sama, and I want to be in the Uchiha clan." She spoke quickly before she opened the door. She prayed he'd stop her. He didn't. she spoke again "Sasuke I-"

"Leave."

"Fine, I will. But if you ever need me... my name is Tenuyasho Ronpoa."

"Leave." And she did. 'that was interesting.' Sasuke thought as he finished off his ramen. God, how he hated ramen...


	3. chapter 3

The next day, Sasuke woke up early in the morning. He had to get a good training... he hadn't ever since he killed Itachi. He was actually quite surprised with himself. He never had a day gone without training before. Never ever. He phoned up Naruto and Sakura and told them to meet him near the clearing in half an hour.

Neither of them had changed too much. He hadn't either, come to think of it. he was still the same cold hearted on the outside, warm if you really try to dig in, Sasuke. Naruto has developed strength wise and strategically wise, but he was still the same caring, orange suited baka. And Sakura... well Sakura was still weak, still smart, and still after Sasuke. She had improved a lot over the 8 years, of course, but she was still weak compared to a chuunin. She hadn't passed the Jounin exam like Sasuke and Naruto.

Half an hour later, Naruto and Sasuke were practicing their taijutso, while Sakura was running. Two hours later they switched: Sasuke was running, while Naruto and Sakura were practicing taijutso. And then the final switch: Sasuke and Sakura taijutso, and Naruto running. 6 hours passed, it was already noon. About now they'd usually either meditate or skip the meditation and go to some restaurant (they took turns deciding which, so every three days they ended up eating ramen. god, how Sasuke hated ramen...). But now was their first training together in a long time, and even though it was Tuesday and everything, when they looked back Naruto was the last one to pick. So now it was Sakura's turn, and she took them to a pizza place (with a huge salad bar. God, how Sakura hated salad bars... but if she ever wanted to win Sasuke's heart... and she HAD heard a rumor lately saying he's interested in restoring his clan...)

Sasuke had a lot of fun chatting around with Naruto and Sakura. He usually acted like he was bored or like he didn't care in these occasions, but he really loved those lunches. When he looked at the big pizza shaped clock he was shocked to find it was already 2:30 in the afternoon... 'GAHHH! I spent 2 and a half hours on these two morons? Shit I gotta ruuuuunnnn!!!'

"Sorry guys," he said calmly, slowly, and without a slight emotion in his words "but you guys are terribly boring... I think I'll just go home now... I've got other business to attend to." He left the pizza shop and let a smile creep up his face. Both Naruto and Sakura knew he was kidding about them being boring... they knew him too well. But the last part should have kept Sakura interested... other business... he liked to say stuff like that, to touch her sensitive points- what she didn't know about him. It was like a game to him. Usually he'd send a replication one way and hide himself to see if she follows. Amusingly enough, she usually did. but this time he wasn't kidding- if he didn't hurry, he might be late. Seeing as he WAS living in his manor right now, at least he didn't have to take the long path. he sent a replication the other direction, something for Sakura to follow. He actually felt bad sometimes about doing this to her... he liked her, actually, he had a slight hatred for everyone in his fan club, but not her. He supposed that after 8 years she was starting to grow on him. But he couldn't restore his clan with her. She just won't do. As much as he liked her and as a great mom she probably would be there was just something too fake about her.

Besides, she wasn't strong enough. And the Uchiha clan had to be the strongest.

It was 3:30 and he was still at the shop, buying wine. 'Damn it Damn it Damn it! I'm supposed to be at the gate of the Hyuuga Manor by now!! I'M GODDAMN FRIGGIN LATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' he said. He picked his wine carefully, and slowly went to pay.

"Hello Sasuke." A voice had said. It seemed familiar.

"Hello." He replied, then looked up. Ach. It was just that Ronpoa girl. Wait a minute... why did he remember her name? "What do you want?" he asked her coolly.

"Well, it's more like what do YOU want, Sasuke-kun." Her voice was teasing. "you're the one who came up to me this time, not me to you."

'Damn it, she's right. She's the cashier... wait a minute... she said she liked me yesterday, no? maybe I can squirt a little sale out of her... just for the fun of it... no, I'm late... besides, I don't want to spend more time with her...'

"Right." He said, handing her the money "Whatever." And with that he left the store.

Ronpoa chuckled. 'Ahhh... Sasuke Kun... tsk tsk tsk...'

It was already 3:45 and Sasuke just came to the gate. Not good, not good! It took him usually about 20 minutes to get through all of the Hyuuga's... He passed through the guards and asked around where Hiashi is. He was never at the same room at the same time as the previous day, it seemed. When he asked someone why they said that it was to not give spies an easy job. He was surprised to see that it only took him 10 minutes, since all the Hyuuga's knew him already and he didn't come by any shy ones or ones unwilling to help today. So far, so good.

He waited 5 minutes outside of the room Hiashi was supposed to be in and then entered, at 4:00 PM exactly. Hiashi seemed to be expecting him (duh).

"No." he said, taking the wine.

"Please, Hiashi-Sama, Listen to me." He tried to keep his cool, and he tried to remember what Neji had said yesterday. "I'll take any Hyuuga. The weakest one, a useless Hyuuga. A Hyuuga that will do no good to the family. A Hyuuga that you want to get rid of. Anyone would do."

"I have no Hyuuga to spare." Hiashi said automatically. Then again... "Then again... maybe I have someone for you... yes... I think I do... come back tomorrow, this time. I'll be in the big hall. Someone will be waiting at the gate to take you there... even though I think you've gotten to learn you're way around the place rather well, no?"

"Thank you. I'll be back here tomorrow." Sasuke said and left.

He went back home, and took out another bowl of instant ramen. 'God, how I hate ramen...' he thought to himself, as he poured milk into a glass. He was halfway through the sticky ramen when he heard a knock on the door. 'I hope it's not that Ronpoa girl... though any excuse to get away from this ramen is good...' he said, took a gulp of milk, and quietly "Come in".

He had no idea how she heard him, but Ronpoa came in.

"You again. What do you want tonight?"

"Just to check up on you. You don't look like you're enjoying that ramen of yours too much..."

"Checking up on me? What are you, my babysitter?"

"Hai." Sasuke stared at her. That was a rhetorical question, damn it!

"Explain."

"Tsunade Sama sent me to see what's keeping you up so much and to try and help you with it. so I've been spying on you for the last couple of days. Nice taijutso, by the way, and you run like a girl."

"So why have you been burdening me instead of actually helping me, if that's what you're hired to do?"

"What can I already do?"

"Firstly off, help me finish the ramen stock Naruto gave me for my birthday. Here, have a bowl." He said, giving her one. He couldn't believe he was inviting her to stay for dinner, but it was kind of lonely all alone in the Uchiha Manor and he did have way too much ramen. He gave her the milk, and was surprised to see her pouring water into the ramen.

"You put water in it?" he asked, terribly shocked, but trying not to show it.

"You mean you've been eating it with milk all this time? Y-U-C-K!! It's not kosher, anyway..." she said, biting off into her ramen.

Sasuke raised his eyebrow. They continued the meal silently. At the end of the meal Ronpoa washed the dishes and Sasuke told her to leave when she's finished, and with that went to sleep. He had a long day ahead of him.

He had the usual nightmare about Itachi killing their family. He went down to get a bit of water.

'Why is that nightmare still there?' Sasuke thought. 'I killed Itachi. I got my revenge.'

'No...' another voice, at the back of his head told him 'You didn't kill Itachi. Itachi killed himself. And now you'll never get you're revenge.'

'So?' he argued 'Itachi is dead. Isn't that enough?'

'No, it isn't... You wanted to torture him. You wanted to cause him equal pain to the pain he caused you.'

'Shikata ga nay (it cannot be helped). I didn't get my revenge, if so, and I never will, and I wasted all my life on trying to achieve something that I will now never achieve. Is that what you're saying?'

'Not exactly... you do have that other goal of yours. Restoring your clan, nay? I say, put all of yourself into it. Marry someone you love, not someone that Hiashi-baka can spare.'

'Like who? Sakura? My clan will never be strong that way.'

'Yeah... you're right... but it doesn't have to be some Hyuuga leftover! Think about it, if Hiashi can spare her, she can't be THAT much stronger than Sakura...'

'Perhaps, but the combination of sharingan and byakugan can't be a bad one, besides, even if she is weaker than Sakura, supposing something like that is possible, she still has genetics... people inherit stuff from their grand parents and uncles, don't they?'

'Yeah... but still... you won't love her, she won't love you, what will ya do?'

'I'll figure it out when I get to it.'

about now Sasuke realized he just had a conversation with himself, shivered, and went back to bed. He woke up do to nightmares three more times.

Ronpoa, who was sitting outside the window, frowned to herself. Four times he woke up in one night... not good. She'll have to report this to the Kazekage.

Hello all my readers! Thanks for the replies and I hope I satisfied everyones comments!

Sorry for the 4 day wait (though it's not long) I was on vacation... I plan to update this very often, don't worry... even though schools starting, shouldn't get in my way too much.

I'm sorry that the first chapter is so short... I think I'll edit it more later on... maybe make the fight longer, def add some more of itachi's feelings... :P

Sorry if the story is moving a little slowly I don't want to rush Hinata in cuz she just won't fit in right now, I think I need to give her time to show up. She definitely will have a major role here cuz I love the pairing SasuHina. They're a perfect match, and this is my contribute to the sasuhina fans and writers. Anyway, I think in later chapters the POV will switch around between Sasuke and Hinata.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!!!


	4. chapter 4

'It's today It's today!' a childish voice in his mind told him. Sasuke decided to ignore it. He started on his way to train with Naruto and Sakura. If his wife was going to be a Hyuuga leftover, she won't be strong; therefore he had to be strong enough for the both of them. There, he just killed Itachi and already a new goal to train towards. Sasuke was proud at himself for not slacking off just because Itachi was dead. Of course he wouldn't show it to Naruto or to Sakura. He'd show no emotion. Not because he didn't want to; oh, how badly he wanted to show off, to tell Naruto all about Itachi... to agree, just once, last time before he gets married, to a date with Sakura...

But he had an image to maintain. A cold, emotionless image. And he happened to like that image... still... well, alright, not a date with Sakura. He couldn't afford that... But to update Naruto he could as hell afford. Naruto won't tell anyone. Even if he wanted to there was no one to tell.

Sasuke frowned.

'I don't think of myself as a fan girl. I have nothing in common with those girls who bother you all the time, Sasuke-kun. All I wish is to congratulate you on your defeat of your brother.' He was sure she had said that... 'All I wish is to congratulate you on your defeat of your brother.' She had no way to know.

Tsunade wouldn't have told her; nothing ever left her office unless very necessary. She wouldn't just let the word about Itachi being dead spread itself.

She must have been spying on Sasuke for quite some time, if she knew this. He hadn't spoken about it to anybody but Tsunade, he was certain. He hadn't gotten drunk since, hadn't gotten drugged, and hadn't had any pills. Not a way that he had spilled the secret to someone.

If she had started spying on him a while after he had come to Tsunade, for she had said that Tsunade had gotten worried and therefore sent her to watch him, there was no way for her to know.

She had been spying him beforehand, and he was starting to doubt she was spying for Tsunade.

He changed his path and went to see the fifth Hokage.

"I wish to speak to the Hokage." he told the guard.

"I'm sorry, but the Hokage is busy now." The guard replied. He hated it when that awful Tsunade fell asleep in her work. He never knew how to deal with it. and this was THE Uchiha... argh.

"It's an emergency. Wake her up." Sasuke replied coolly. He had no time for this. Damn it damn it damn it. "Please." He said very sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that." Damn it. he was speaking like this to the last Uchiha... how he hated his job.

"DAMN IT!! I'll go in and wake her then, just let me in!" He said, no longer trying to keep his cool.

"I can't do that." The guard wished he could disappear now. At the moment he didn't care about this months paycheck, nor the next months, just to get away from the angry as hell Uchiha.

This was the part where Sasuke didn't give a damn about the stupid guard and went right into the office. He opened the door, found Tsunade and Jiraya making out, closed the door and knocked. The reply came automatically and when he came in, Jiraya was gone.

"Hokage-Sama, have you been sending someone to spy on me, named Ronpoa?"

"What? I haven't sent anyone after you. You said you'd come back when you'd finish your business, and I was stupid enough to let you."

"Damn it." was the reply that came from Sasuke. He was starting to think up a list of all the possible enemy's he could have, but when the list became way too long to count, he decided to drop it.

"Someone had been spying on you, admitted it, and said I sent them to watch over you?" Tsunade went over the facts for the fiftieth time "And they knew that you killed Itachi, so either they were in contact with Itachi, or they started spying on you before you killed Itachi, or they started spying on you before you came to tell me all about it. am I correct? Any more facts?" Tsunade said, yet again.

"She was cashier at the wine store." He told her.

"Wine store!? Please tell me you haven't been drinking." Tsunade said.

"I haven't. The Hyuuga's have though, and quite a bit as well. I buy them wine every day." He informed her.

"You're getting the Hyuuga's drunk?! Are you mad?! One attack on Konoha and we're gone, without the Hyuuga's. and if someone is spying on you it might mean that an attack is not that far away."

Talking about the Hyuuga's made him nervous. He glanced at the watch on his wrist. It was only 10 AM, he had time.

"Whatever. Anyway, what do I do with the girl?" he asked.

"Act normal." Tsunade said, and with a smile added "Treat her like a fangirl. Maybe she is one anyway, and has been stalking you, not spying on you."

Sasuke considered that. Maybe. But he really did need to go train now. And talk to Naruto.

Three hours later, Sasuke was practicing taijutsu with Naruto and Sakura was running. Practicing taijutso was the best time to talk. Sasuke told him everything that happened since he left to kill Itachi. Naruto listened, and interrupted every two seconds because he was a baka who couldn't understand a word Sasuke was saying. In the end the story went through by the end of the two hours. Who said only girls do girl talks with their best friends?

Naruto switched with Sakura now. Sakura was so slow in these things... she never kept up with his pace in taijutso, so he always slowed down a LOT when training with her. But he liked training with Sakura, even if it wasn't a challenge. It was sorta funny to see her swoon over him if he let her land the tiniest hit. He kinda liked it. of course he could never let her see that, his entire image would be ruined.

"Get off me, I need to go somewhere." He said. Sakura backed off, rather surprised.

"But Sasuke we still need to train..." she said, but by the time she finished he wasn't there. She sighed, and gathered Naruto to go to a restaurant. Naruto acted like it was a date. Much to her annoyance, so did the old man at the ramen bar. Grr.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was browsing through the wine store. Ronpoa wasn't there, and he didn't really give a damn about what Tsunade had said. He selected a fine brand of wine he hadn't bought them before (these were running out), paid, and sped off to the Hyuuga Manor. He wasn't late- it was only 2:00 PM. He had stopped by his house earlier, to clean up. He had two hours to wait. He went into a nearby café and waited around, ordering a bit of coffee. He looked around the restaurant and noticed Hyuuga Hinata there, sitting by herself. He went over- he had nothing better to do. And she was a Hyuuga, maybe she could help him. He knew Hinata always helped people. He wasn't especially fond of the girl, but he hadn't had anything against her. Except, of course, the fact that she was weak. He hated weak people. And the fact that she liked Naruto. He couldn't understand exactly what she saw in the boy, but either way, it wasn't his business.

"Hey." He said as he sat down beside her. Hinata looked at him, and then quickly looked away, looking for something to look at (visualize it like when she saw Neji in the prelimeries for the third part of the chuunin exam, then looked away...).

They both sat quietly for a while. Hinata was clearly not comfortable having Sasuke there. Sasuke noticed this, but didn't particularly mind. he found it slightly amusing.

'Why is he sitting here next to me?' Hinata thought 'I wish he'd go away.' But of course Hinata would never say something like that. She decided that breaking the silence would be better.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him in the quiet, polite voice of hers.

"Killing time." He told her. "I have to go to your house, as you very well know. I was early so I came by here."

"Oh..." was her reply. 'I bet he knows that he'll be marrying me. I heard the conversation he had with my father... he asked for someone useless that Hiashi can spare, and everyone knows that I'm the only Hyuuga that fits that description. I wonder... I wonder if he said that on purpose? Maybe he wants to marry me?' and she blushed.

Sasuke noticed Hinata blushing. She wasn't looking at him, or at least she tried very hard not to look at him, but he was staring at her. 'Tsk. She's blushing. I was hoping at least she wouldn't blush around me, the only girl in Konoha who isn't in my fan club. I thought she only blushed around Naruto... Tshh. What a useless Hyuuga... wait... a useless Hyuuga... oh no. oh, oh no.... damn it!!' Sasuke sighed. Hinata looked up.

"Do you have any idea who I'm marrying?" he asked her. 'Straight to the point' was the thought that crossed through both of their minds.

"No... Father didn't... he didn't speak about it. he said that... that today all the Hyuuga's will know.... But..." she said all this in her quiet tone, which Sasuke was beginning to find a bit... annoying. "But I heard your conversation... and I know father has no use in me... he considered disowning me several times in that past, and almost went through with it twice..." tears were rolling down her eyes. "It's rather obvious, that I'm the only Hyuuga that he... that he can spare. He never wanted to disown anybody else as far as I know." She finished quietly.

Something inside Sasuke wanted to stop her crying. He never liked it when girls cried. It reminded him of his mother... who'd cry... when Itachi... but he killed Itachi. And suddenly he knew, he'd kill anyone who'd make Hinata cry. Starting with Hiashi. But that would come later- he promised Neji he'd kill their family anyway. Hehe... this was the same way he felt about Sakura. He hurt anyone who ever hurt her.

"Don't cry." He ordered her, emotionless. She looked at him. She didn't dare continue crying. She must be such a burden on him... she dropped her head in shame. How could someone be so cold, so emotionless? She didn't want to marry him. She wanted to be with Naruto-kun... Naruto, her courage... her dream... it all lay with Naruto. And now her dad was going to force her to marry this Sasuke dude. Though it wasn't absolutely final and certain, since her father didn't straight-out tell her this, she knew it was true.

They sat there, like that, Hinata's face down shamefully, and Sasuke looking at her, for a while. A rather long while, actually. Hinata lost her will to start a conversation, and would have left but felt it was very impolite. Sasuke, well he was rather enjoying himself. He liked looking at people. To hell if it made them feel a little uncomfortable. Besides, this was probably going to be his wife. He could do whatever he wanted with her.

'come on Hinata... say something... say something... Naruto would have... he wouldn't have gotten into this situation... be brave... look at him, don't dodge his look like that... but... but he's so scary... No. I have to do this, I have to get over my fear... besides, he's Naruto's comrade, so how bad can he possibly be?' she thought to himself. She gulped, and looked up. She stared at him in the eye.

Sasuke was surprised.

"Sasuke-kun.. I.. we.. we're... we're late..." she said. She was right- it was 12 minutes to four.

'Shit' Sasuke thought, got up and paid for the few cups of coffee he had. Then he leisurely went towards the Hyuuga Manor. Hinata followed him. The coffee shop wasn't far from the Manor and Hinata knew where her dad was so it took them exactly five minutes to get there. Sasuke waited outside while Hinata went in. 7 minutes later he went inside. Hiashi was sitting, and in front of him sat Hinata, face down. Next to her there was another pillow. Sasuke sat down there.

"Hinata, you are now married to Uchiha Sasuke." He informed her. Sasuke couldn't see Hinata's face because it was facing the floor, but he saw tears on the ground. His heart broke. Was it this bad for her? Was **he** causing her so much pain? No... he couldn't...

his face stayed emotionless, though. "You are to never come back to the Hyuuga Manor again, after you leave now. You are no longer a Hyuuga, now you are a Uchiha." Hiashi said. He smiled. Finally a way to get rid of Hinata without killing her. She was a head family member and so couldn't be killed by a Hyuuga, even if it was another head family one. branch family knew very little of this, but even the head family had their seals. It was on the top of their backs. "You are allowed one last visit to your room, to pack, and then leave." He told her. Hinata ran out of the room. Sasuke left the Manor, and waited for Hinata outside.

Hinata was in shock. In a speech that lasted less than 2 minutes she had lost everything that had been important to her. How she hated her father, and he she hated Sasuke... her husband... for having to marry him. She will never be with Naruto now.

She gathered her belongings in a bag. She put in a few underclothings, a few ointments, a hairbrush, and a toothbrush. She put in a few suits.

She smiled to herself. 'I'm packing as if I'm going to a sleepover.' She thought.

She threw in a couple of her handmade tiny dolls. She has been making them since she was 4 and her mother taught her how, and she was not giving up her entire collection now.

She looked around the room to see if there was anything else that was valuable enough to take to the Uchiha Manor. Should she leave the shoebox that contained letters to Naruto, pictures of Naruto, poems about Naruto and her diary? She hesitated. She threw away the entire Naruto collection, weeping over every object, and took her diary with her. She needed at least that. She put in the framed picture of herself with Kiba-kun and Shino-kun and Kurenai sensei. She cleaned up the room, looked everywhere for anything she might need. She found nothing.

She left the Hyuuga Manor. Forever.

--- end of chapter 4 ----

Soooooo... you all asked me to bring Hinata, so now she's in, big time! Happy? :D I am! Writing her is so much fun hope you liked this chapter!!!

Ohh.. and one thing... this fanfic is SasuHina... even if at times it seems like SasuSaku, or might seem, in the near future, like NaruHina, or even NaruSaku, it isn't any of them. Just SasuHina. I'm just trying to be realistic as to what happens in the show... like after I saw today episode 98... I couldn't help but feel **SASUSAKUSASUSAKUSASUSAKU** buuuuuutttt... yeah :P


	5. chapter 5

For the next few days, life in the Uchiha Manor was practically lifeless. Hinata didn't speak to Sasuke unless she absolutely had to, and then it was to inform him of something. All in all, she didn't speak over 20 words since she came.

Sasuke sighed. 'Oh well' he thought to himself 'it's better than having those fan girls around that keep on chattering along'. He smiled. His fan girls lost all hope in him when he married Hinata. They haven't even tried to separate between him and Hinata- people didn't just "get divorced" in Konoha. Because of that, about half of the faces in Konoha were depressed. When he trained with Sakura and Naruto, he could see that Sakura was on the verge of tears. For some reason, so was Naruto. Was everyone depressed now in former team 7?

"Why are **you** upset?" Naruto had asked him "You've got Hinata." He said, and Sasuke could see he was on the verge of tears. So Naruto liked Hinata... Hmm.

"Mind your own business, dobe." He told him. Naruto lay off. The rest of the training was quiet. Sakura tried extra hard in taijutso now, Sasuke saw. He complemented her on improving. He really wanted to cheer her up. Sakura smiled at the compliment for a second, then frowned and tried even harder.

Instead of going to a restaurant, he told them that he had to go and see the Hokage. And so he did.

"the Hokage told me to come here." He told the guard, which was still afraid of him.

"Go right in then..." he told him. There was really no need to, of course. When the Uchiha came, he came in; there was no question about it.

"Starting tomorrow, you are a jounin. Come to my office tomorrow at 10:00 AM, I have an urgent mission for you to carry." Tsunade told him. With that, he left. It was still only noon. He went back to his Manor, and fixed himself some ramen. god... how he hated ramen!

Hinata came over and sat on the other side of the table.

"You don't look like you're enjoying your ramen too much." She said quietly.

"You're right, I'm not. But someone has to finish the endless stock of ramen I've got..." he told her.

"You can always give it to Naruto... his... his is coming soon." She said. Sasuke sighed. Naruto again? He wanted Hinata to love him... to think about him... not that damn fox.

"No can do. Naruto gave it to me in the first place. Why would I buy ramen anyway? I hate ramen." he informed her.

"Oh..." she replied. But Sasuke liked it when she talked. Besides... they had to talk about it eventually...

"I'm sorry, Hinata..." He told her. Hinata looked up, surprised.

"Sorry?" she asked.

"Yeah... sorry... that you got separated from your dreams because of me..." he continued "But this... this is really important to me." He needed to cheer her up. "Besides, if I could have chosen all over again I'd have chosen you. I like you." He told her. Anything to stop her from being so sad...

Hinata looked up. It was not like Sasuke to tell someone how he feels.

"I'm going on a mission tomorrow. My first mission as a jounin... and I don't know when I'll be back... please don't run away while I'm gone." He finished, and stood up. So did Hinata.

Hinata was thinking of something to say.

"Arigato." She finally got out of her mouth. Sasuke looked at her. She wished he wouldn't. His eyes were... red? Why was he activating his sharingan? "Why... why are you activating... the sharingan?" she asked him. The sharingan was deactivated without a word.

And then it happened. Hinata didn't expect it. Sasuke leaned over and kissed her. Hinata pulled back, and went outside. "I-I'm going... to train..." she said. When she got outside, she ran. She ran all the way to Naruto's house. She knocked. Naruto answered the door, and let her inside. She sat on his bed, and cried. All the tears that she wanted to let out the past few days and couldn't... because she was afraid of Sasuke. But now Naruto was here...

She felt safe. She always did next to Naruto, but now she was slightly scared even here. But... it was either here or at the frightening, empty, Manor of the past Uchiha clan.

She looked up at Naruto. He looked... sad. Not sad, because he was slightly smiling. But his eyes were very sad (visualize episode 98 when Sakura hugs Sasuke).

Half an hour later, when Hinata stopped crying, he served them both ramen.

"So... how's life with Sasuke?" he asked her. "If he's a jerk to you, I'll beat him up bad."

Hinata smiled. "He's alright... really..." she said. But she started crying again.

"What did he do?" Naruto asked. His eyes were those of the nine tails.

"He... he kissed me." She told him. Naruto looked at her, as if he wanted her to continue.

She didn't.

"Well... that's not **that** bad..." he chuckled. "you are his wife, after all..."

"demo... I don't want to be..." she said. "I want to be with you."

Naruto looked stunned. He had that sensitive look again (I'm in love with that look, shoot me). It took him a while to reply.

"Now you're telling me." Naruto said and cleared the table. "Well there's not much I can do about that right now. I can still beat the hell out of Sasuke if you want though. If you don't though, you should... you should leave now." He said to her.

'of course he'd say that baka' she thought to herself 'this isn't rejecting you.. this is staying loyal to Sasuke. He's his best friend after all...' she thought and went back to the Uchiha Manor. Sasuke was sleeping.

Of course he did. he was leaving on his mission tomorrow, he needed sleep. Even if it was only 4 PM (time flies). She sat beside his bed and waited for him to wake up. She was making another doll for her collection.

Sasuke woke up, and noticed Hinata sitting next to his bed. She was making something.

"What are you doing, Hinata-chan?" he asked her, trying not to sound intimidating, but more... loving. He knew Hinata was afraid of him, and it pained him. The attachment to her name seemed appropriate to him for some reason. Hinata looked up in surprise.

"Umm... I- I was waiting... for you to... to wake up..." she replied.

"Ah... well... I'm awake now... is there any special reason you were waiting for me to wake up?"

"No..."

"Hinata... I'm so sorry... I don't want you to be afraid of me. I want you to love me... the way I love you. All I want is to be a good husband to you... and a good father to our children..." he said, and quickly added, "When the time comes..."

"Right." Hinata said in her quiet voice.

Sasuke hugged her, but she didn't hug him back. She didn't tug away from him either. Her hands dropped to the sides, and she cried. Sasuke kissed her, so she won't cry anymore. He couldn't stand her crying. She didn't resist like she did earlier, at lunch. She just didn't do anything. Tears were still rolling down her eyes.

'It'll happen sooner or later anyway. Even Naruto said so... I'm his wife, and well, kissing shouldn't be so special... but still...' Hinata was thinking to herself. She didn't want this, but she had to do it. So she wasn't resisting. Her dreams will never happen now, anyway... so the least she had was to accept her fate. Just like Neji would have put it. besides, this was better than being almost ignored, like she had been the past few days, and like she always been in her life... ignored by her father, by all of the Hyuuga, ignored by Naruto, who never noticed her... and now... Sasuke said he loved her. Did he mean it?

Suddenly, she didn't hate him anymore. He made her lose her fantasies about her and Naruto together, but Naruto had never really noticed her anyway. No matter how hard she tried to change. And she did try, never with much success. And now Sasuke was here in front of her, and he loved her. And he loved her the way she was, and she didn't have to change for him to notice her.

So maybe she was still useless, but she still meant something to Sasuke.

She kissed him back.

"Do you have to go to your mission tomorrow, Sasuke-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Hai, Hinata-chan... I'm sorry..." he said.

"It's ok... really..." She answered.

"Don't you have missions too?" Sasuke asked. When he was a chuunin, he had missions every other day.

"I do, usually... but I'm on vacation right now. I did an A rank mission that lasted two weeks a month ago, so Hokage-Sama let me have this month and a bit of next one off."

"Don't worry. I'll be back- I promise. I won't die... until my clan is fully restored."

"Hai."

I'm not very pleased with this chapter. But, shikata ga nay. The most I can do is rewrite it over and over again, and aside from not feeling like it, the points I'm trying to get through here probably won't look better even if I rewrite it.

This took me a long time to write, I sat to write it the minute I finished the last chapter (what? I was in suspense too!) that's right, it took me more than 12 hours to write this short, annoying chapter. I sometimes sat hours on a simple reply, because I was trying to make it sound like something that character would say... but it's not that simple... I watched episodes over and over again so I could feel 'in character' to get better replies... but no... argh!! The next episode is going to be much less annoying, I hope.

Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter as well although all of its downfalls. Finally, fully SasuHina! I was waiting for this to happen. And it's not over yet! More battles will come!

And another thing: I'm so sorry that I keep forgetting that loadsa time passed and that they're all 20 now. It's so... damn... annoying!!! I'd keep them 12 or 13 if it was up to me, but it didn't make sense because:

Sasuke had to have time to improve greatly in order to defeat Itachi, and I felt that would take 8 years (Itachi is strong. I love Itachi.)

They had to be old enough to marry each other.

Sasuke and Naruto had to be jounin.

So don't hate me ::**hides::**


	6. chapter 6

Yo readers! School started so I just might be a little busy... but like I said before, shouldn't get in my way all that much. So just a little umm responses to some of the replies I got... (Not responding to all of them, though they all made me smile, thank you for leaving a comment! It's the best thing ever, reading them all!)...

Anyway...

Astly-hinata-chan, Naruto Wasian actually answered you... he's just cheering her up right now cuz she's really depressed and he doesn't like to see people crying (I did a lil research over it and he ALWAYS gets emotional when people start crying... not that they do often but whenever sakura (how weak of her -.-) starts crying (she always does) he gets all angry at whoever made her cry and stuff... or lets her hug him...) I decided to clear up about that in this chapter just for you! 3

Lil Uchiha bunny: if Sasuke dies in this mission... well... you'll just have to see about that...

And before chapter 6- to all of those who might have thought I have forgotten about Ronpoa- NO WAY! She's an important character, in case you didn't notice. But like she said, she has to go report to the kazekage. And who knows how long the journey between leaf and sand is? . just in case you missed her though!

And now to the story!

Chapter 6

Hinata woke up in the morning and went down to get some breakfast (ramen- there wasn't much change in the meals at the Uchiha Manor. Until that endless stock Naruto gave them was over anyway...). Sasuke was already there, finishing up some ramen and reading documents.

"Ohayo, Sasuke-kun..." Hinata said quietly. She had started to like him. She still felt a bit unsafe around him, because that's just the way he made people feel, and she was still very afraid that if she'd do something wrong he'd hurt her... so she was still extra careful - Just in case.

Sasuke glanced at her briefly before returning to his documents.

"Umm... Sasuke-kun... I- you... you've still got... three hours before you have to go to your mission..."

"I'm aware of that." He said, finishing up his ramen. "I'm going back to sleep, to rest for a bit. I suggest you go training. I know you weren't yesterday." He told her. "Besides, you wouldn't be able to go to Naruto while I'm away, he's coming with me." He stood up and walked to the bedroom.

Hinata stayed at her seat, frightened to death. Sasuke knew she had gone to Naruto? Had he known she said there that she didn't want him? But... but he wasn't mad at her... why wasn't he even the slightest bit upset with her?

She went training, because Sasuke was right. As long as he was there with her, he was able to protect her; he was among Konoha's strongest ninja's, probably. But if he was away on a mission... it could mean trouble. She went to the usual place where she had always trained with Kiba-kun and Shino-kun, prepairing for a long training- alone.

But Kiba and Shino was there, the bugs fighting off Akamaru.

"Hinata-chan? What are you doing here?" Shino asked, the bugs returning to his body. Akamaru barked in happiness, and Kiba and Shino were both looking at her.

"I-I've come to... come to train..." she told them quietly, looking at the floor. Kiba looked at her oddly. How he had changed since they were genin... he was now tall, and he grew a small beard and mustache. Akamaru was now a rather big dog.

Shino hadn't changed much, though. He had grown a bit, sure... but he was still as mysterious as ever.

"Hm." Was Shino's reply. Out of the blue, he kicked her. She easily dodged it. soon, they started taijutsoing in high speed that Forced Hinata to fully activate her byakugan. Shino used some techniques he had learned upon becoming a jounin that Hinata did not recognize, but she fought them away. Shino beat her, of course. Shino always beat her when it came to taijutso; she always had a secret fear, that no one knew of, to hit him hard in his tenketsus. She was always afraid that bugs would come steaming out of his body and attack her. Of course, she had dealt with his bugs many times, using different kind of jutso's to defeat them, but she hated the situation. It always gave her nightmares for many nights.

She never mentioned any of this to Shino though. She acted as though it's normal and even nice.

Hinata was a very good actress.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was in the Hokage office along with Naruto and a few other older (and younger) jounin that Sasuke did not know. They all knew of their mission; they had read the very complicated details of it in the document. Sasuke never appreciated the documents: they could get in the hands of the enemy way too easily. He had pointed this out to Tsunade, but she was too lazy to think up any better system. Damned lazy Tsunade. Their mission was, in short, to search for information on the legendary lost village of words, a village that has been only a fairy tale for long, but now the Tsunade had gotten information from various sources that the village might exist.

She, obviously, wanted to check it out, and see if there are any valuable things that the leaf could use, before some other village does and uses whatever lays in the lost words against the leaf.

She paired them up. Sasuke had obviously enough been paired with Naruto; they had proven more than once that they make a good team and take the best out of each other. Each team searched in a different country. They were to search all over, every rock and tree, every small thing could be a significant way towards the answer.

And then they left, for this mission that would possibly last a long, long time. Searching an entire country...

"I wish I could stay a little more, you know? Just a tad longer... to get settled... I left Hinata all alone... in that horrible place... for a rather long time..." he started talking to Naruto.

"Just be nice to her when we come back, Sasuke, or I'll kick your ass."

"Of course I'll be nice to her, dobe. Why wouldn't I be nice to her?"

"You're just not a very nice person, Sasuke darling. Listen... Hinata doesn't want to be in that marriage of yours. You forced her into this. I doubt she'll forgive you for that. But you can at least try to make up for it."

"I AM trying. I- I even told her I love her. Just to cheer her up, ya know... she looks really depressed, and well, I don't want her to be..." Sasuke replied, not sure he should have told Naruto this.

"Whoa. Since when did YOU become mister sensitivity?!" Naruto said out of pure shock.

"Since Hinata became a part of what has been important to me all my life- restoring the Uchiha clan." Sasuke replied.

"So that's all Hinata is to you? A tool to restore your clan? Damn it, Sasuke, she deserves more than that." Naruto snapped at him.

Sasuke remained silent. Deep inside, he agreed with Naruto. Hinata deserved a lot better than what he could offer her. What he could offer her was a comfortable life with a lot of love- love for her children. But with no love from him. And it was what upset Sasuke most.

He wanted to love Hinata, he really did. But he just- he just **couldn't**. Love was not something he had trained himself to do. On the contrary- until a few weeks ago, when he had fought with Itachi, love was not something he had permitted to himself to do.

He could tell her he needed her.

He could tell her he wanted her.

He could tell her that he thought of her all day long.

He could tell her he would protect her forever.

He could tell her she meant the world to him...

All these would be true.

If he wanted, he could even lie and **tell** her he loved her. Just to cheer her up, because he hated to see her cry.

But he could never love her. Love was something he had told himself a long long time ago that he'd never do. He'll never love.

It hurt too much.

The next few weeks Hinata had lived in a routine. She woke up alone, ate alone, went (alone) to train alone, came back and ate lunch alone, studied alone, and took a walk around Konoha, hoping to bump into someone she knew and not be alone any more.

The Uchiha Manor was too big and empty for her. Sure, the Hyuuga Manor was also big, but it was full of life.

Sasuke was in a routine as well. He woke up silently, woke Naruto up silently, searched around cautiously, found nothing, and went back to sleep at night.

Their search was definitely not going well. Maybe it was because they both had Uchiha Hinata on their mind.

One month passed.

Two months.

No sign of Sasuke for Hinata, and no sign of the lost village of words for Sasuke and Naruto.

Three months.

Sasuke and Naruto came across a village who's name was "hidden village of dreams", which was indeed well hidden. Rumors said that in the past they had had an alliance with the lost words, so they had checked thoroughly there, talking to each and every villager and asking them what they knew.

The procedure lasted two weeks, and it turns out that there HAD been an alliance with the lost words, and also many wars; but the village of dreams was mostly full of young people, and they had only heard the stories from their grandparents.

Naruto and Sasuke searched for information on the lost words in the hidden village of dreams in the library, and in the record hall. In the end, they snuck in to the komekage office, to the information that only he had access to. They found what they were looking for- the location of the words. And much to their disappointment, another week passed before they got to where the words should have been.

What they didn't know was that Ronpoa, who had been quite irritated with them taking off to their mission before she came back from the sand, was on their tail, and gotten a chance to catch up in their stop at the dreams. Now she was quite up to pace with them.

"Well hello there, Sasuke-kun." A voice said. Naruto looked around, and Sasuke could swear that voice was familiar.

"Hi there, Ronpoa. What are you doing here?" he said coldly.

Naruto looked bewildered.

"Taking a look at the words. Should be some pretty fancy techniques here- you do know the legend? At the ruins of a village always lay the villages techniques. And I'm not going to let dear Konoha have them. The kazekage wants those techniques." She said.

"The... kazekage?" the wheels in Sasuke's brain were spinning. Kazekage=sand. He knew their old kazekage was dead, so this must be a new kazekage. And he was positive that the strongest sand nin was Gaara. So he had either become Hokage, passed, or killed the entire village. It was not like him to pass, and apparently since Ronpoa was here and was speaking of the sand as it still existed he must have held himself and not killed it away.

"How is Gaara doing?" Naruto asked coldly. He must have come to the same conclusion as Sasuke. How could he be so sure, though? The Kage's were supposed to protect their village, not kill it away!

"Gaara-Sama is doing very well. He has become the kazakage 5 years ago. He killed his father. His sister and brother are doing very well as well."

"Great. We just might come to visit them some day." Naruto smiled. That baka! Couldn't he see things were not under control? The sand were supposed to be in an alliance with the leaf, and so not get in the way. Also, Ronpoa had been spying on him.

Sasuke frowned. That just might be something personal through the kazekage, however...

"Let us through. We have been wandering around in search for the words for three months. If you don't go away, I'll kill you." Sasuke snarled.

"That sounds like something Gaara would say. Are you sure you want that, though? If you kill me, the entire 8 year alliance between Konoha and the sand will vanquish. The sand is much stronger than the leaf right now. Also, we have proven ourselves as good to have as an alliance." Ronpoa said in reply.

"Shut up, Sasuke! You have no idea what you're saying." Naruto whispered. "I have things under control."

"I might not be too sane right now, but I miss my wife. I want to go home. For that I have to get my mission done. And right now it seems that for that I have to kill this sand dudet." Sasuke replied coolly.

Naruto frowned his famous frown, and poked Sasuke.

end chapter 6

So you liked this one? I like it better than chapter five anyway

PLEASE REVIEW! Your reviews mean everything to me!


	7. chapter 7

Chapter 7

Naruto was poking Sasuke and frowning.

Sasuke was glaring at Naruto.

Ronpoa was laughing her head off.

"What, Naruto? What do you want?" Sasuke asked Naruto finally. He was truly being a pain is the ass.

"Ano, Sasuke, do you want another war with the sand? No! The sand have been very faithful and helped us whenever we needed them. Both you and me would probably be dead by now if it weren't for them. Besides, you want to go back to your wife and live a happy peaceful life, don't you? For that we can't cause any trouble for the sand right now."

"If we don't kill her, she'll kill us, Naruto baka."

"If we do kill her, Konoha's in trouble, Sasuke baka."

Ronpoa was still laughing her head off.

Sasuke randomly shot two Shuriken's at her, one of which hurt her shoulder.

"Shut the fuck up, we're trying to think here." He told her.

"Heh." Naruto smiled.

"Naruto! You go to the village of sand, contact Gaara." Sasuke ordered him.

"Since when are you the boss here?! You go contact Gaara yourself! I'll bet you'd kill her while we're gone anyway!" Naruto yelled and pointed at Sasuke, mumbling something that sounded a lot like "besides I bet you're gonna show off when we get here damn you Sasuke always making me look bad..."

"Look, Naruto-baka, Gaara hates me, Gaara likes you. He'll kill me if I come talk to him, He'll be super friendly to you if that's possible. Therefore, you go, I stay and make sure this Ronpoa girl doesn't escape. That is, unless you want to have it my way and kill this person right here, right now."

"Ah." Naruto said and frowned. "Fine... I'll go..." he sighed and sped off. Sasuke tied Ronpoa with both chakra strings and rope. He would feel it if she broke free, and he very much doubted he couldn't defeat her if she did.

Three days later, Naruto and Gaara appeared where Sasuke and Ronpoa have been earlier.

"That was quick." Ronpoa commented. It had taken her quite a while to get from the sand to Konoha and back, and this place was even further. Even a jounin like Naruto can't make it one way in less than a week. Of course, the way back they had transferred on Gaara's sand.

"I have my methods of transportation." He told her. "Jiraya taught me some fancy transporting technique just these past few months!" he told Sasuke. "For emergency situations only." He finished. Sasuke sighed. He shouldn't have said the last part; if Gaara and Ronpoa were smart, they'd understand this meant that he had almost no chakra left from using this technique or it wouldn't have been only for emergency. Baka Naruto.

"Ronpoa, go home. Your brother is waiting for you." Gaara told her. The sand broke Sasuke's strings and ropes and Ronpoa fled.

"We don't want war, Gaara." Naruto told him.

"Too bad." Replied Gaara. "I should have won you guys years and years back. And now I now I can!" As Gaara said that the sand was chasing Naruto and Sasuke around. They were dodging with the speed they had gained over the years, but it seemed the sand had also gained speed.

Naruto used Harem, and all the sexy girls threw kunais. Naruto knew little of this but Gaara and the sands only weakness was sexy girls- well, what, all the girls were afraid of him and couldn't touch him because of the sand. Gaara got a nosebleed, and the sand leaked blood as well. Naruto and Sasuke both blinked, and then Sasuke used his blazing fire to set Gaara's blood on fire.

Naruto and Sasuke were winning, and they didn't even use any fancy techniques yet. Heh.

But the sand was grasping onto Naruto's neck, and Sasuke's chest. They were both grasping for breath. Gaara was just slow motioning a fist when Temari arrived.

"Gaara, what are you doing? Leave those two alone." Gaara turned to his sister and gave her a rather mean look. He was younger than her in quite a bit, but that never stopped him from threatening her every other day. Temari was frightened for a second, then shook her head and remembered that Gaara would never hurt her. He had proved it before, on missions. His sand automatically protected her if someone wanted to hurt her, almost as much as it did Gaara (though Gaara always was first to be protected, but there was usually enough sand for them both.). She breathed in deeply, however, before she explained herself to Gaara.

"Gaara, please. These two have done nothing wrong, and we have an alliance with the hidden village of leaf. We don't want to break that alliance, so far it's only done us good."

"Temari... I..." Gaara begun. "Fine." He said and walked away. 'I don't want to hurt my sister. She's... the only one I've got right now.' He thought as Temari hugged him and they both 'hitched a ride' on the sand.

The first time Temari hugged Gaara, Gaara couldn't be any happier. She was the first (and still only) person that ever hugged him. But now, Gaara wanted to be hugged by another female... someone who loved him like... like... like Temari loved her boyfriend from the sand. At first Gaara hated Temari's boyfriend and tried to kill him, because he didn't like sharing Temari. But he came to realize that Temari would be very very sad without him. So he let them be. He grew used to seeing them together.

((writers mid-note: to all those who want me to do a pairing that includes Gaara in it, do say so. I want it too, but I just... can't bring myself to do it. HE'S MINE GODDAMNIT!!))

Hinata was making a new ointment. She had already made 17 since Sasuke left (it took a lot of time and precision to make each one.). She had been on two B ranked missions, as well, and 10 C and D ranked missions. She had been to the Hokage 4 times already, asking when Sasuke will be back. All the other teams that have left with Sasuke had returned last month.

Hinata was worried. She asked the Hokage to send a search team to help them. She wanted to be on the search team, but Tsunade said no and didn't budge or explain herself.

The team was, eventually, sent, and Hinata was waiting. Alone.

Training.

She trained like her life depended on it. she wanted to be strong enough for Sasuke when he returned, or strong enough to survive if he didn't return. This thought scared her. Even if he didn't return, she was still Uchiha Hinata. She would have to restore his clan for him, she knew. She didn't like the thought.

She had thought about her position all day long. Sasuke had married her only as a tool, she knew it from the moment she heard him talk to her father. He would have taken anybody; he didn't love her especially because of who she was.

But he didn't hate her because of who she was, either.

So maybe it was better this way. No one else would have taken her, probably. She would be stuck in an organized marriage by the Hyuuga, marrying a distant family member, or would have gotten married to some rich old dude that payed a great amount of money to the Hyuuga in order to be one. That was how the Hyuuga had become so rich in the first place.

Maybe she wouldn't have even gotten married; maybe she would have been sent on an A rank mission as a chuunin hoping she would die, or even have an assassin after her.

This scared her greatly. At least she knew that with the Uchiha she was safe from that horrible fate. And she was married to the most popular and wanted man in Konoha.

And he said he loved her.

But did he?

And so Hinata would train, and train, and train, to please her husband when he got home. Trained and made ointments for him.

She even stopped thinking about the fact that Naruto was with him.

And about the fact that they both might be dead.

end chapter 7

Another useless, annoying short chapter. I wanted to put a fight here but it didn't work out cuz Gaara would have had to die but I like Gaara too much (I'm too merciful). I wanted to put more Hinata here but that didn't work out either, cuz there's not much to say about her.

SO this is the result. I hate it I'll rewrite it when I rewrite chapter 1 and every other chapter I don't like. Hehe. For now though you have to live with it cuz it get's the plot going. I rewrote it like 5 times already, that's why it took me so long. At least I managed to get Temari in!


	8. chapter 8

OK! I've been doing a bit more reading then writing lately, so sorry... Here's Chappie 8!

Chapter 8

Hinata was laying on Sasuke's bed and crying. Sasuke had left 4 months ago. The search team hasn't found any track of him. He was probably dead. Even if he wasn't this was only his first mission since they got married; he was sure to have many more. Hinata didn't know how she'd deal with it.

They only had a few days together before he left, as well... She wanted to be with him. The more she tried not to think about him the more she missed him, the more she wanted to be with him... the more she strained to forget she'd only remember more. The way he told her he loved her... the way he kissed her... She needed all that again. She hadn't moved from the manor lately. She stayed in all day, eating, sleeping, and crying. She didn't want to move anymore.

Sasuke and Naruto, meanwhile, had found the lost village of words. They took whatever they could find, marked the location on the map, and went back to the hidden leaf.

The way back only took them two days.

The arrived around 2 AM. Naruto headed to his apartment, and Sasuke headed off to the manor. He couldn't wait to be there. He just hoped Hinata was still waiting for him... He missed out the entire summer. It was now fall, and it was indeed beginning to get chilly.

He was on the roof of his house already. He sat there, searching for a star that he could wish on. He wanted to wish Hinata was waiting.

But no star was there to wish on, and Sasuke's nerves were breaking. He sighed, and went inside.

He found Hinata sleeping in his bed, and couldn't help but smile. She looked so... angelic; her navy blue hair messy on the pillow, her steady beat of breathing, her body, which was covered only with a long t-shirt. Sasuke found himself staring at her for a while more. There were tear stains all over her face. This saddened him a bit. Finally, he got in bed with her. This was their first time, as a married couple, sleeping in the same bed.

5 hours later, Hinata awoke. Tears immediately started to roll down her eyes, before she even opened them. There was a blanket over her. She could swear she did not go to sleep with it. She felt warmth beside her, and she could hear breathing.

Hinata opened her eyes. Sasuke was sleeping soundly next to her. He must have come back last night. She ran her hand through his hair. So smooth and soft... she kissed him on his lips lightly, hoping not to wake him up. He must need sleep after his long mission.

She got up and took a shower, smiling. Sasuke was back.

She made herself breakfast and made lunch too, putting it in the fridge. Then she went back to the bedroom, and lay on the bed next to Sasuke. She was looking at him lovingly, and stroking his skin. It wasn't long before he woke up.

"Hinata... I'm back..." He told her quietly. He had dreamed of this moment for the last 4 months. Hinata replied by kissing him.

"Sasuke, I love you, I'm so sorry, and I'm so happy that you're here... I love you so much, and I miss you so much, and I need you so much and.." Hinata said in her quite voice when the kiss broke.

"Shut up." He ordered her quietly. He took his shirt off. Hinata was stunned; she just stared at him for a second. His body was so perfect. Hinata felt more comfortable now with Sasuke than she has ever felt. She took off her own shirt.

The lunch Hinata had made was long forgotten. Sasuke and Hinata were too busy playing husband and wife.

MEANWHILE IN THE HIDDEN VILLAGE OF THE SAND

Gaara looked at the pile of papers he had to fill and sighed. What a waste of time. He had hoped that people would like him more if he became their kazekage. But he was wrong. Nobody really cared about him being in charge of them. Sure, he passed new rules and ignored some others. He judged people, and half the village was dead. But people certainly didn't like him more. They still all despised him.

Suddenly, he decided. He was going to quit being kazekage.

An hour later, the council were notified of this and a new kazekage, some 17 year old jounin brat, was chosen.

Gaara let the sand carry him to his house. He was so sick of this village. He had tried protecting it, but people still hated him. He wanted to go away, but he knew he'll miss his siblings. But then again... they'll understand. Won't they? He was sure they would.

He put in his gourd some water and some food instead of the sand, that just followed him, and started walking away.

He was going to the desert. Deep into it, the further side. Away from the hidden village. There, he knew, he would be able to let Shukaku out more, and he'll feel more comfortable. And he wouldn't have to worry about other people.

YUP, WE'RE BACK TO KONOHA!

Neji was fighting Lee in order to get better. He hadn't heard from TenTen for over a month now. She moved with her mother to the United States after her father died in an ANBU mission. Her mom didn't want her to be a ninja anymore, and TenTen didn't want to disappoint her rather old mom.

Neji had a hard time to swallow her disappear. She was the only one who understood him, and she knew more about him than anyone. They had been together, on and off, since they were 14. and after 7 years, he got so into her...

flashback

They were sitting back to back in the middle of the forest, leaning on each other. They were waiting for Gai and Lee, who have gone off to search for something, and were talking and eating sunflower seeds. Neji could see TenTen and TenTen couldn't see Neji. They were talking about their last mission, which was a B ranked one and quite long and difficult.

"Thanks for saving me back there, Neji." TenTen said then.

"I did it because I like you." Neji told her, casually. He was an expert at hiding emotion.

"Really?" TenTen had blushed (Neji saw it with his byakugan, even though they were sitting back to back.) "well, uhh... I like you too!" She said and turned around (as Neji hastily deactivated his Byakugan. He didn't want her to know he'd been staring at her.) to kiss him. That was their first kiss, and there were many, many, many more to come. They never grew bored of each other.

end flashback

And now she was gone. She had been the only one he loved for his entire life, and now... she was just gone. Gone to the United States, where she'll probably find new love, and a new life.

AND BACK TO THE DESERT!

TenTen frowned. She was hot, sweaty, her metal weapons were HOT, and she didn't store enough food or water for this trip.

She was on her way to the nearest airport, which was in Tokyo, when she decided to go back. But the problem was she had no idea HOW to go back. She was on the verge of tears.

She missed Neji.

She decided to think logically. She was in the desert, meaning that she wasn't too far off from the village of sand, probably. Right? Right. If she found the village of sand, she could get herself food and water and go home. She's done the way from the hidden village of sand and back many times; as allies, Konoha protected the sand and the sand protected Konoha. She was rushed to the sand many, many times. The way usually took her something in the area of a day or two. But the desert was big, and she had no idea exactly where in it the hidden village of sand was from where she was now. And there was no one to ask.

A sandstorm came. TenTen was too tired to fight it. she layed down on the sand, and closed her eyes. She didn't even notice that she fell asleep.

But she must have, because she was woken up.

"Sleeping in the desert isn't a very wise thing to do if you aren't hidden. There are many predators around, I'm sure you don't want them to devour you..." a monotonous voice told her. She looked up, and saw a bit of messy mahogany hair and blue eyes, surrounded by black.

She recognized Gaara.

end chapter 8

Hehe! All those who thought I was overrating this when putting PG13, were wrong. This is the one chapter that I planned to make for a looong time. The first part of it, anyway. It has been in planning since I started writing the fic. I was going to write around two more chappies about the lost words and put more details, in, well... everything... but I couldn't take it anymore!!! Hinata had to be with Sasuke!!!

To those of you who thought "oh what a nice place to end this fic." You are so wrong. The fun has only just begun! More sasuhina for us, don't you worry!

And about the GaaraXTenTen, well, TenTen is the only female other than Temari and Hinata that I don't despize. Personally, I'm all for Hinata X Gaara, but this is a sasuhina fic so that won't be happening. And Temari and Gaara, well, it just doesn't work out. So TenTen x Gaara it was. Even though personally I'm all for NejiTen (as obviously seen above...). So im making it a love triangle! XDXDXD

**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LEAVE REVIEWS!!! I LIVE ON THEM!!! PLEASE, TIPS FOR IMPROVEMENT, WHAT YOU THINK OF MY FIC, EVEN FLAMES ARE ACCEPTABLE!! I NEED REVIEWS!!!**

Thank you ::bows::


	9. Chapter 9

Chap 9

"Subako No Gaara..." she said, but her voice was barely heard. Her lips were dry, as was her throat, and only a wisp came.

"Your name is TenTen, right?" he asked. TenTen nodded. Gaara did a few seals which summoned water (geez, people, did you really think he could live in the desert with completely no water?!), and TenTen thirstily drank it all.

"Arigato gozaimasu." She said. She was very, very tired.

Gaara was turning to leave.

"Wait! Gaara!" She called him.

Gaara turned his head.

"I'm lost. I want to go back to Konoha, but I'm lost, worn out, and in no shape to journey." She said. 'better to tell him then to not so. Maybe he can help me.'

"So?" Gaara asked "That has got nothing to do with me. Konoha is that way." He pointed at a random direction and turned around, going to his way. The whole point of the desert was that people were usually not there. He barely spent a day in the desert and already a human interfered. AGAIN.

No sound came from behind him. He bit his lip, he was sure that she would protest. Not that it bothered him that she hadn't, no way, but it just didn't seem right that she wouldn't. something was wrong. He turned around again.

TenTen had fallen to sleep.

Gaara thought of the options he had now. He could kill her. That would be his first human kill this week. He never liked to start it off with a girl. Superstition.

He could kidnap her and torture her. Oooo that would be fun. Really fun. The options that would evolve from kidnapping her were evolving into great fantasies in his mind (I always claimed the sexy-no-jutsu would have worked best on Gaara). This seemed like a pretty nice option.

He could return her to Konoha. B O R I N G.

He could return her to the sand. But he didn't want to go back there.

He could ignore her presence and leave her to welt in the desert.

He could take out his cellphone and call the Konoha rescue team to come in their airplane thingy and save her (this is for ladyvirgo).

He mentally scratched option 1 from his mind. He didn't feel a need for killing right now. Shukaku was quite content for being in the desert, he didn't press on him to kill.

He hesitated quite a bit before scratching option two. It seemed so nice, too... Just in case, he hadn't permanently scratched it. He might get back to it.

He didn't want to return to Konoha or the sand. Scratched them both.

And he didn't feel like ignoring her. No special reason. He just felt like helping her.

And his cellphone was out of battery. Shit.

He mentally formed another plan in his mind. And this was waiting beside her until she woke up. Then he'd see what he'd do. Maybe he'd kidnap her and- he'd leave the rest for later.

And so he stayed by her side while she was sleeping, staring at her, her steady beat breathing, her tightly shut eyes, her now-not-so-soft-but-probably-usually-soft hair...

-

--

-

--

-

Hinata was laying on her back on the futon and recollected all that had happened since Sasuke came home. Each kiss, each breath, each touch... each word he had spoken to her, harsh or soft. She remembered when he got up, got dressed and simply left. She knew he had gone to Tsunade-Sama, to report his mission and the discoverings he and Naruto had made (he told her about it a great deal. He seemed to have really missed her, maybe as much as she missed him...), but she couldn't help but wish he wouldn't have left. She wanted him next to her.

She frowned at herself. Just four months ago she wished he wasn't there, tried to ignore him, tried as much as she could to avoid him. And now she wanted him to be with her all the time... what an abrupt change. But his departure to the mission had taught her many many things.

Sasuke was standing in front of Tsunade, Naruto by his side, reporting about their mission. They were almost through, actually. And then Sasuke could get back to Hinata... to were they left off... he was gone for less than 2 hours and he was already missing her.

He didn't love her, though. He told her he had. It kind of pinched his stomach that he had to lie to her, but he wanted her to be happy. He truly did.

And he needed her, and she knew that.

And he did indeed like her. She was so understanding when he came back... she was perfect. Everything about her was perfect. She was intelligent and wise, so they could have a decent conversation. She was beautiful in every aspect. She tried hard to please him. And she didn't speak too much. Sasuke liked that. He hated it when people went on and on and on babbling about stuff that didn't really matter.

He was starting to doubt even Sakura was that great. Sure, Sakura was smart. But she depended on him too much, and she talked too much... Sasuke found her annoying most of the time. His attention went back to Tsunade, who was rambling a lot about them taking way too long, and about Sasuke not having a Genin team attached to him for another 2 months now because that's when the graduates that havn't passed the genin test get to retake it. Sasuke couldn't really care less. Although being attached to a Genin team also meant no dangerous missions and lots of time at home. He was pretty sure Hinata would like that, but he would probably go mad. Three idiotic 12 year olds was the last thing he needed right now.

Sasuke and Naruto went to call Sakura, and they all (even Sasuke) decided to celbrate their return at Ichiraku Ramen. They (Naruto, anyway...) told Sakura about the mission to great length while gobbling up about 20 bowls of ramen. Sasuke was sitting and not saying too much, eating a bit of ramen and really not enjoying it.

"I'm going home." He told Sakura and Naruto.

"But we just got here, Sasuke!" Naruto called out, and Sakura nodded next to him. But Sasuke just left without saying anything else. Sakura sighed.

"Sasuke's been acting strange since he got married, don't you think?" she asked Naruto.

Naruto looked at her like she was from mars.

"He hasn't changed, Sakura, you have... you see him differently now that you can't have him, so it seems to you that he's changed. He's been like this all along."

And Sakura couldn't help but think that what Naruto said made sense. But she didn't care anymore. Ever since she stopped obsessing over Sasuke she found time for stuff that was a bit more useful, like training, working, chatting with Ino and her other friends, and, how now, obsessing over other boys. She found that she missed quite a lot of them in the 10 years in which she liked Sasuke.

END CHAPTER 9!!!

Short chapter, and annoying chapter, but very very necessary. Maybe I'll change around the ending of it when I rewrite everything.

Firstly, how do you like the beginning? I like it. I don't think it counts as OOC for Gaara because it's his Inner thoughts, not how he acts. Even though Gaara would have killed her, but she's very very very necessary for the story. Sorry ''...

For all you NejiTen fans out there (and by the reviews I got there are quite a lot of you) don't worry!!! Really. You guys should know better than to think I'd disappoint ya'll like that. But there will definitely be some GaaTen too. Because that couple is nonexistent. And I think that every couple, impossible as they might be, should have a few fics. :P

But I'm not just going to break Neji's heart. I love him!!

**Ladyvirgo**: The Naruto storyline leaves plenty of room for imagination. They aren't really exact about where and when the story takes place. They have televisions, cameras, walki talki thingies (in episode 6) and other mechanics, so I really don't see why they wouldn't have airplanes. This is an argument that could, basically, go on and on and on, so I'll just end it by reminding you that this IS just a fanfic, based on my sick imagination. So it doesn't actually have to follow the story if I don't want it to. Besides, there are fanfics I've read about Naruto which include busses, vacation trips to the Caribbean's and loadsa other stuff that can't really take place. Just use your imagination.

Though yeah, it would be kinda funny. ::Imagining Gaara in a red convertible:: ::drooling::

**Naruto Wasian**: you're replies always make me smile the most so I'll write a Gaara Hinata fic specially for you when I'm done with this one. XD

Everyone else that replied: THANKS! :D:D:D:D


	10. Chapter 10

Playing a bit more with the POV this chapter, try not to get too confused. ,

CHAPTER 10 (_have I really written 10 chapters? WOW!_)

TenTen was closing her eyes tightly and whishing Gaara would go away. She thought maybe if she pretended to be asleep he'd leave her alone. Or kill her. She wouldn't mind that right now. Hell would probably be much better than this place, anyway.

But she's been closing her eyes and counting seconds for two hours now, and she could still feel him stare at her. She didn't like it that he was staring. Especially since her eyes were closed.

She waited two more hours. One of the things you DIDN'T get to practice daily when learning with Gai was patience. Sure, they had one or two training sessions covering it, but they weren't as serious as the practical ones. Gai always seemed to focus on the practical things.

And she seriously regretted that now, because after only four hours of shutting her eyes and laying on the sand, she couldn't stand it anymore.

She opened her eyes. Gaara was kinda happy that she did, he was getting sick of watching her. He was just about to shake her awake anyway. But from his experience from Temari and Kankurou, that got people annoyed. And he didn't want TenTen annoyed. He didn't want her to be afraid of him, even though they were in the desert, surrounded by sand, and he had a sand monster inside him, so that was probably impossible.

So he was rather happy she woke up on her own.

"You're awake." He stated. 'Make up your damn mind Gaara!! Are you going to kidnap her? Are you going to take her back to Konoha? Are you gonna take her back to the sand?!!?'

"You're still here?" TenTen asked, trying her best to sound confused. 'Of course he's still here, duh! He was staring at me when I was sleeping! I just hope he hasn't got any perverted idea's, staring at me like that...'

"You don't want me here? I thought you wanted help." He told her, trying his best to sound like he didn't care, using his oh-so-safe monotone. 'She hates me ::sobsob::'

"Staring at me sleeping doesn't count as help in my book." She informed him. 'SHIT!! What am I doing?! Am I trying to get Gaara of the desert angry at me?!??'

"Would you rather I killed you?" Gaara threatened. A threat was the safest thing he could think to say. 'Smooth. So she knows I was staring at her. GAARA NO BAKA of course she knows! She's a ninja too! Ninja's know when people stare at them in their sleep! What were you trying to pull off?!?'

"No, that's ok." She assured him. No point in getting Gaara of the desert angry, it couldn't possibly end up good.

She stood up. "So where did you say Konoha was?" She asked him, hoping it would lead to a useful result.

Gaara, trying very hard to keep his poker face but really sobbing very deeply from the inside that she didn't want him to help her, pointed in a random direction.

TenTen took a few steps and collapsed. 'shit. Now I'm going to stay in this fucked up desert for eternity until I either A: die or B: get killed by Gaara. Shit shit shit. I NEED WATER!'

She felt the sand starting to wrap around her body. 'I'm probably too weak to be any use to him, so he decided to kill me...ah well. Better off that way.' She told herself, and started praying and trying to communicate with Neji telepathically. He always believed in this sort of nonsense, didn't he?

Thinking of Neji made her let out a giggle. He'd probably say that 'tis her destiny, to die in the middle of the desert by none other than THE Gaara.

Gaara (who was in the process of kidnapping TenTen, he finally made up his mind) was sure she was laughing at him and was deeply offended.

---meanwhile...KONOHA!---

Hopping around from roof to roof was fun. Especially when you've already dated all the guys in Konoha, weren't on a mission, you're favorite obsession was brutally taken away from you by someone you'd be lying if you said you didn't like, all of the scrolls you had have been read over a thousand times, and your mom was being extremely annoying saying you'll end up all alone and she won't have any grandchildren.

So Sakura was hopping around from roof to roof, glancing at the people walking around, doing their shopping. She had been hopping for over 2 hours now and she hoped that she'd see something that would stop the hopping, because she was really starting to get sick of it.

But nothing stopped her 'fun', so she decided to go on a visiting spree. First she went to visit Ino's flower shop. But Shikamaru, holding a crying baby that was Todai, took Ino's place at the shop for the day, which really surprised Sakura. She knew that Shikamaru despised working in the shop, and especially hated to do so while taking care of Todai. Todai was his and Kin's (from the sound) baby, or so the rumors said. Shikamaru took care of her as a single dad, while Ino helped him out most of the time. The whole story with Kin and Todai only deepened his dislike for women. Even though he loved Todai, who even as a little 1-year-old child could already (barely, but still) make objects stay still for a few seconds. She was a very smart baby.

But Shikamaru said that Ino was away on a mission, and he was stuck with her stupid flower shop.

So Sakura went to visit Naruto, but he was busy trying to learn a new technique with Jiraya-Sama.

So Sakura was still hopping from house to house, thinking of who to visit next.

Half an hour later she had already been through every single Jounin, Chounin and even Genin she knew, all of them were busy or on missions.

So finally, still being bored to hell and trying very very hard to avoid going to train, she went to the place she dreaded going... the Uchiha's. She'd have to visit them later anyway, right? Right.

Hinata and Sasuke were trying to ignore the knocks on the door. They were trying very very hard to ignore them, in fact. But neither of them could help but wince with every knock, and the knocks just got stronger, and didn't stop.

They both understood very well that the knocker wouldn't go away, and that they wouldn't be able to get on with their sex. They looked at each other, disappointed that they couldn't have more of each other right now.

"COMING!" Hinata yelled in a quiet sort of way (A/N: how can you yell in a quiet sort of way, you ask? Hinata can. :P). She put on a large t-shirt and shorts, and went to answer the door.

"Hi" said a grinning Sakura. 'I wonder why Hinata looks so annoyed...' (A/N: can Hinata even look annoyed?!? Is that possible??)

"Hi." Hinata said, trying very very hard to hide the fact that she was very annoyed over the fact the she was just stopped from having sex with her husband by her husbands x-crush. "Do come in.," she said quietly.

Sasuke came in to the living room as well, fully dressed (but... but why?? Lol HE had time to change clothes...) Hinata shot a glance towards him that clearly said 'get this over with quickly please' and went to change as well.

When Sasuke got back from the kitchen, where he went to so he can get some cookies and milk (Hinata finished all the ramen while he was away. God it was good to have her around.), Shikamaru (who already closed the shop, and wasn't going to get any sleep anyway because Todai was being a pain.), Todai, Naruto, Kiba, Shino, Neji and Lee were also there.

Sasuke almost dropped the tray in surprised but remained in his cool and collected state, put the tray down on the table, and went to call Hinata.

There had never been so many people in his house for a looooong time.

END CHAPTER 10

hehe. I like this chapter

I hope u did too!

Please review!


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11- PLEASE REVIEW WHEN YOU'RE DONE!

Hinata stepped unwillingly out of the safe bedroom. She had no idea what it was that was in the living room, but it was enough for Sasuke to not want to come out of the bedroom.

Maybe there was a spider or some sort of bug in the living room. Would be kind of funny if Sasuke was afraid of bugs though.

And the first thing Hinata saw was, indeed, bugs. Lots of them.

Then a crawling baby who was, apparently, chasing the bugs cleared the bug cloud. And the baby was chased by a rather annoyed looking Shikamaru. Shikamaru was being chased by akamaru who was being chased by Kiba. Then she saw her cousin, who looked positively bored and was rolling his eyes (very weird that someone without pupils can do that, but Neji is talented .). Next to him was the pink haired Sakura, who was beating up Naruto (Hinata's heart sank), and Lee was trying to stop Sakura.

And then the sound blast came.

The buzzing, the screaming, the crying, the yelling, the roaring, the barking.

Hinata was so stunned that something could be so horribly loud, she didn't even notice all the broken things. And there were, in fact, quite a lot of them. And she noticed them now.

Hinata slowly stepped back into the bedroom, and tightly shut the door behind her. Sasuke was already sitting on the edge of the bed. She joined him.

"I hate this." She told him. Sasuke nodded. "What should we do?"

"Wait until they go away?" Sasuke suggested. Hinata nodded.

"Good idea." She said and kissed him.

"Get a room!"

Hinata and Sasuke looked around, to find Konohamaru in their room, looking very disgusted.

"Actually, this IS a room, as a matter of fact it's a room in our HOUSE, which YOU shouldn't be in!" Sasuke hissed.

"Well So-rry, Naruto Nii-San asked me to call you guys..."

"I'm gonna kill him one of these days." Sasuke whispered to Hinata and got up.

"Konohamaru-kun, Sasuke and I will be out in a few minutes, please wait in the living room." Hinata said quietly. Konohamaru shrugged and went outside.

"We have to go out to them, don't we?" Hinata said miserably.

"Looks like it." Sasuke replied with the same amount of misery in his voice.

They both got up and went to greet the guests.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hot here. Is it always like this?" TenTen was trying to make small talk. She was being carried by Gaara's sand somewhere. She hadn't really excepted this, but hey, wherever it was he was taking her couldn't be worse than the middle of the desert.

"Of course it's always like this, this is the desert, baka." Gaara replied plainly. He was starting to wonder why he was doing this. This TenTen person wasn't very interesting. Not as much as she seemed when she was sleeping.

Awkward silence.

They were both thinking. Gaara was thinking about girls, about why they all always hated him. They were always afraid of him. TenTen was thinking about Neji, about how she missed him, about what he might be doing right now.

Neither really noticed how the time flew by.

It was night.

Gaara was surprised with this fact, actually. He stopped.

TenTen was surprised with the fact that Gaara stopped. She decided it wiser to not say anything about it, though. Apparently, Gaara was stopping to... sleep?!

Wait a minute... didn't everybody say that Gaara of the Desert does not under any circumstances sleep?

She shrugged it off.

Gaara's sand formed a house. It wasn't very big. One bedroom, and a kitchen. TenTen checked it out. In the kitchen there was lots of food, but she had a suspicion that since everything was made out of sand, so was the ice cream, pizza, vegetables and cereals. She decided not to take a risk and didn't eat it.

She moved to the bedroom. There was one bed.

"Why is there only one bed?" she asked him.

"I don't sleep." Gaara replied.

"Then why did we stop?"

"For you. Besides, I don't travel by night. All the animals go out."

"For... me?" TenTen said quietly. This didn't seem right. Gaara of the desert never cared about other people and what was comftorable for them. Besides, he should be thinking that she had already had her fill of sleeping. "Arigato-gozaimas..."

Gaara was staring at the moon. He was really tired. He wanted to sleep. Actually, he had slept yesterday. It felt so great, not having to worry about Shukaku getting loose because no one was around anyway. And now he had gotten used to it already, after only one time. He felt like he was falling asleep, but he kept himself awake.

The moon was full.

"Is that what you do every night? Watch the moon all night long?" TenTen's soft voice came from behind him. He heard steps, and then TenTen was sitting next to him.

"Yeah." He said and looked around at her. Her brown eyes were looking at him. He looked at her face.

She was awake, she was looking at him, he was looking back, and she wasn't scared.

She wasn't scared of him.

TenTen could read the shock in his expression.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

'She's... worried about me...'

"No... Nothing... it's just that..."

"Just that what?"

"Are you scared of me?"

"What?"

"Are you?"

TenTen looked at his eyes. They were usually emotionless and cold, but now... she couldn't help but notice how beautiful they were.

They were both silent for a minute. TenTen was looking at Gaara's eyes. She had something for unique eyes; it was one of the traits she loved most about Neji. Gaara was staring back at her.

"Do you want me to be?" TenTen finally asked.

"No." He replied.

They were both silent again.

And then TenTen kissed Gaara.

It all went rather smoothly at first. Hinata caught Todai and with her feminine touch put her to sleep. Then, she handled with Shino's bugs. She got to know them and what they like pretty well from all those years as Shino's teammate. Akamaru chilled, and Shikamaru, Shino and Kiba, who felt rather bad about the mess they made, were cleaning up.

Sasuke was helping Lee separate Sakura from Naruto, which was rather hard. Neji was still rolling his eyes (A/N: you'd think he'd get dizzy from rolling his eyes so many times but like I said, Neji is very very talented.)

Everyone was sitting down on the couches, and Hinata went to get some coffee and cookies, and some meat for Akamaru.

Must be that going to the kitchen to get something was bad luck for those two today, because when she came back, Sasuke and Naruto were fighting, very violently.

Her mind went blank when she heard the discussion they were having (while fighting, duh, that's how they always have it in Naruto). They were fighting about _her_. A-and Naruto was getting hurt... and Sasuke was preparing chidori...

"Sasuke... Sasuke, stop it! DON'T HURT NARUTO!" She screamed. Sasuke looked at her confused, the chidori in his hand fading to none.

They were staring at each other. They were both confused, hurt, and didn't understand themselves or the other. 5 minutes ago, all that mattered was the guests, but now neither paid attention to anything but the other.

Everyone noticed this, and one by one (Neji being first) they left. Naruto left last, muttering something about being sorry.

They were alone again, sitting at the opposite ends of the couch. Neither of them felt like talking to the other, nor knew how to start a conversation.

"That's the first time I heard you yell." Sasuke said quietly after a while.

"I'm... sorry, Sasuke..." Hinata replied. "I didn't mean... to yell..."

Silence. Just like their first days together, Hinata thought. The first days, when she slowly made up with the knowledge that she could never love Naruto again, because she was married to Sasuke.

"You still love him, don't you?" Sasuke said, just as softly as before.

"I... I admire him, Sasuke... and also... and also, I loved him so much... You can't expect me to... to just completely forget about all that... because of someone I'm forced to love." Hinata replied. And the moment she said what she said, she knew she shouldn't have said it.

Sasuke didn't reply.

They sat like that for what seemed like forever. Sasuke then got up and walked to their-his- bedroom. Hinata followed him. They both went to sleep without another word.

"Gaara..." TenTen started. It was a few days later. A lot of things happened, and they were nearing Konoha. "Why does your sand let me kiss you?"

Gaara was thinking just that.

"I don't know. Maybe Shukaku wanted you to kiss me or something... But that can't be, he hates love."

"Gaara... would you have been able to control the sand without shukaku?"

"I think so. The sand is controlled by my chakra. But it won't automatically protect me, like it does with shukaku..."

"Is it possible that Shukaku left? Or, or _died_, or just disappeared?"

Gaara thought of that. Shukaku hasn't bothered him since yesterday night. He tried to call him in his mind, but no response came- then again, maybe this was some kind of joke on shukaku's side.

"Maybe." Gaara replied.

"What I'm thinking... is that maybe love makes mosters like that disappear... and that's why he set you against love all along."

Gaara thought about that.

"But then Kyuubi wouldn't have still been in Naruto. Naruto- he loves too much..."

"Maybe it's just Shukaku then. Or-or when you love someone and they love you in return..."

"Maybe." Gaara replied.

TenTen spotted Neji from afar. He was on gate duty. She got off the sand and ran to him.

"T-TenTen?!"

END CHAPTER 11

Sorry for the big lack in update. Terrible writers block but mostly just lack of time... and tons of fights w/ people and stuff all ending up with a serious lack of mood... so yeah '

Made this one longer though to make up for it

It's 4 word pages (I usually make each chapter around 3 pages).

So yah... please please please please please review... I live on these reviews. Even if you reviewed for another chapter of mine please please please review!!!!


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

**Please read and review!**

Hinata was frustrated. Sasuke hasn't talked to her for several days now. He was gone somewhere during the days, and the night's were usually uncomfortable. She tried speaking to him, she told him she was sorry, but he just looked at her with an extremely hurt and guilty look, then looked away. The next day he didn't come home at night.

She was trying to sleep. It was late. But the thought's kept her awake. Thoughts about… about everything. About how things used to be. About how they were now. About how she wanted them to be. She got stuck on the how she wanted them to be- she just didn't know. She tried to clear her minds from thoughts and go to sleep, but she couldn't.

She heard Sasuke's footsteps, heard him undress, and then felt his presence on the bed. She had to say something. Things were too horrible now, she had to set things clear…

Instead, she rolled over and kissed him.

Sasuke pulled away and stood up. He sat on the edge of the bed.

"Sasuke… please, forgive me. I'm sorry…"

Quiet. Sasuke got up and got dressed. He was about to leave.

Hinata jumped up and with her ninja speed blocked his way out.

They both stared at each other for a long time. Hinata's byakugan was activated and Sasuke's sharingan was activated.

Then, Sasuke deactivated his sharingan and they were both quiet for a while.

"Hinata… I'm not forcing you to love me…" Sasuke whispered. "I know that you didn't want to marry me but… I need you, and I want you, and you're all that I think about and… and… I love you. I promised myself I won't. I thought I forgot how. But- but I love you. And I know, that it must be hard on you… that you always loved Naruto… that I forced you to marry me… but I was hoping… that you won't mind, I guess. That you'd love me back. I was being foolish… so foolish…"

Hinata went to sit next to Sasuke on the bed. They were both silent- very silent. Both of them became accustomed to it by now though. The silence was what they liked most about each other.

"Sasuke, I love Naruto, because I always have. He was my dreams and my hopes and my courage- everything. Demo… I love you too. I love you more than I love Naruto. And I care about you more… And I always will. I promise. And I'll be the best wife ever to you… and I'll do whatever you want me to do." Hinata replied quietly. (And if this was parfait tic, Sasuke would ruin this perfect monolog by saying that all she can do is compare… but since I didn't like that chapter anyway, and since fuu-chan is annoying, and since this isn't parfait tic…)

"I- I know you do… and I guess that's all I ever wanted in the first place. But…"

silence.

Sasuke kissed Hinata back. This time, neither pulled back.

* * *

"NEJI!" TenTen was screaming. "NEJINEJINEJINEJINEJI!" she was still screaming as she jumped on him (XD). Neji was trying to read her expression, but her expression just said "NEJIIII!" so he figured she was happy to see him. He hugged her. When they finally let go of each other, they went to have dinner together – because they truly did have a lot to catch up on.

"…And then I decided that I don't care if I get split up with my mom, as long as I can be with you! And then I got lost in the desert trying to find you, but Gaara…"

TenTen went white.

Neji looked at her. "Gaara?"

"Y-yes… Gaara-kun was helping me find Konoha."

"Was he."

"Yup."

"Oh."

Neji couldn't think right. He could read expressions, and he could read this one. He knew exactly what was going on in TenTen's mind.

He wasn't going to let Gaara have her.

"TenTen, will you marry me?" He said in a monotone

TenTen looked at him like he fell from mars. She knew it was coming, but she didn't expect it to come NOW, and she knew that Neji could be more romantic than this.

And… well, also… it was all that she had wanted just several days ago… but now, she wasn't so sure.

"What? …marry you?" She said, stalling for time.

"You said it yourself." He reminded her "You said that you wanted to be with me and never split up." He looked at her in the eye "right?"

"But… Oh come on Neji, you know you can be more romantic than this!" she told him her thoughts. Neji smirked, and then got down on one knee and said in a melodramatical voice "Oh TenTen my love, will you please marry me so we can be together for the rest of our lives?"

TenTen couldn't help but laugh. She did love Neji.

"Alright, Neji-kun" she teased him "I'll marry you." She said as she jumped on him. "I missed you so much".

* * *

**BLAHHHHHHHHHHH!**

**Gomenasai for the short chapter but seriously, how much fluff can one person put in oh so little space without choking? Blah. Blahblhablah. Either way, I reread my entire story and ugh, it's just so idiotic. /**

**I'm going to post this chapter and probably one more chapter and I'll try to finish it within that amount. But if you don't want to eat fluff, STOP NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PIECE! Or however it's said.**

**All the love :)  
**


End file.
